The smooth, hairless skin is black-brown to purple in colour, with the cheeks
often tinted pink. A secretion of mucous keeps the hide moist and shiny.
The body is barrel-shaped and is supported by proportionally long
legs. The four-toed feet have virtually no webbing. The head
is round and narrower than the river hippopotamus, with the eyes placed more
to the sides. The stubby tail has a wiry tassel of yellow hair.

Ontogeny and Reproduction

Gestation Period: 184-204 days. Young per Birth: 1, very rarely 2 Weaning: After 6-8 months. SexualMaturity: At 4-5 years. Life span: Up to 42 years.

The young are born on land or in shallow water, and nurse 2-3 times in a
24 hour period. After birth, the young lie concealed for more than
three weeks.

Ecology and Behavior

Pygmy hippos have numerous resting places throughout their territory, which
they use exclusively when sleeping. These resting places are usually
found in moist to wet terrain. Pygmy hippos seek food on higher, drier
ground, and are most active between 6 pm and midnight. Both sexes have
home ranges, though those of males are much larger than those of females:
a female's range covering 100-150 acres, and a male's covering about 400
acres. Despite extensive overlapping of home ranges, pygmy hippopotamuses
rarely meet others of their species. Indeed, they actively avoid encounters
with others, presumably through dung marking. Most movements are along
'roads' - cleared paths, canals, and tunnels - which are used by several
hippos. During the breeding season, males seek out receptive females,
who tolerate the males' presence when in heat. Mating takes place on
land and in the water throughout a period of two days, in which 1-4 copulations
may occur. When threatened, pygmy hippos usually flee: trotting
into the dense jungle for a short ways, then hiding till the danger has passed.
Normally silent, they have been recorded snorting, grunting, hissing,
groaning, and squeaking.

Rivers and swamps in dense forests in western Africa (Ivory Coast, Liberia,
and Sierra Leone, and possibly Nigeria and Guinea).

Range Map (Redrawn from Eltringham, 1993)

Conservation Status

As a species, the pygmy hippopotamus is classified as vulnerable, while H.
l. heslopi is considered to be a critically endangered subspecies by
the IUCN (1996).

Remarks

Some zoologists replace the genus Hexaprotodon with Choeropsis.
More pig-like than its larger relative, the pygmy hippo's scientific
status has been quite varied - when it was first described, many dismissed
it as a stunted freak, a dwarf subspecies or a juvenile specimen of the common
hippopotamus. After its initial description, when no more news of the
pygmy hippo reached the west, many scientists wrote it off - whatever it
was - as extinct. However, its true status - as a distinct and existent
species - was proven by Schomburgk in 1911, when he captured five live specimens
and brought them back to Europe. The name hippopotamus is from
hippos (Greek) a horse, and potamos (Greek) a river -
although "river-pig" would be much more appropriate! While this ungulate
is large in comparison to most others, it gets its name 'pygmy' from the
fact that it is much smaller than the river hippopotamus..